Laura Farris is the Conservative MP for Newbury, having first been elected to Parliament in 2019 with a majority of 16,047 over the Liberal Democrats.
The Newbury constituency is found to the west of the county of Berkshire along the M4. It contains the town of Newbury and the smaller town of Hungerford. The constituency has a number of staff employed in the telecommunications industry, housing the mobile operator, Vodafone. Alongside the famous racecourse, there are a number of horse racing businesses in the rural part of this constituency. Now a safe Conservative seat, it was once represented by the Liberal Democrats at the start of the Twenty First Century.
In some ways, Newbury is as close as now exists to a family seat at Westminster. Farris’ father, Michael McNair-Wilson was formerly the Conservative MP for Newbury between 1974 and 1992. Her uncle, Patrick McNair-Wilson was also once an MP.
Born in 1978, Laura Farris studied Philosophy, Politics and Economics at Oxford University. Farris then worked as barrister specialising in employment law before being elected to Parliament.
Farris was previously appointed as Counsel to the Independent Inquiry on Child Sexual Abuse. She was also appointed Counsel to the Equality and Human Rights Commission
She sits on the Commons privileges committee.
She is the Chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Legal and Constitutional Affairs.
She also worked briefly as a freelance journalist for the BBC and Reuters. She has previously written for the New York Times.
Farris is considered to be on the moderate, ‘One Nation’ wing of the Conservative Party.
Farris is a member of the All Party Parliamentary Groups on the Environment, Chalk Streams, Ethics and Sustainability in Fashion. She is also the Chair of the All Party Group on Women and Work.
Laura Farris is married with 2 daughters. She supported Remain in the 2016 Brexit referendum.
Email: laura.farris.mp@parliament.uk
Website – www.laurafarris.org.uk
Twitter – @Laura__Farris
